in 1763, king george iii arbitrarily closed lands west of the appalachians to american speculators. quote, i can never look upon that proclamation in any other light, wrote washington, than as a temporary expedient to quiet the minds of the indians. what he might reasonably have asked was the point of the french and indian war so recently completed at such extravagant cost. what was to become of his own western lands, much of them carved from a 200,000 acre grant voted to virginia's colonial defenders. as noted by joseph ellis, the royal restrictions coincided with washington's greatest land speculation, a 2.5 million acre feudal kingdom in the ohio river valley that was rejected by the british govemeof existing treat with the iroquiois and cherokee tribes. one can washington's reaction a few years later when the same london overseers granted permission for english investors to stake their claims in the same region. as resentment hardened into resistance, washington assumed a role of political leadership far in advance of his fellow planters. in 1765, he welcomed the unprecedented a

before congress to lay down his sword and resume the status of farmer washington brought them to george iii to declare so self-denying a hero to be the greatest man on earth. long before he assumed the presidency, through the strength of his character, washington had fashioned a government, the makings of a government, at least, whose powers were limited and whose watchword was restraint, a government that was the very mirror image of the general astride his mount. thank you very much. thank you! [ applause ] now, as you know, we've got c-span here, and i believe we've got someone with -- yep, indeed -- with a microphone. we've got a few minutes for people who have questions. or comments. oh, come on. well, did we exhaust the subject or did we just exhaust you? here. i may regret this. >> at what point during the war -- you talked about his aggressive style at the beginning, but somewhere, he makes that decision that his goal is not to win a battle but not lose the war and keep his army together, keep it in play, that the british had to win the war, he didn't have to. at what point did he r

not the final treaty, that would take a little longer, but that stubborn king, george iii had acceded to the independence of the colonies of the states. the war was essentially over. news was sent back to newburgh, to general washington and he issued an announcement of cessation of hostilities. not the end of the war, cessation of hostilities. that announcement was made at the temple of virtue on april the 19th, 1783. eight years to the day of lexington and concord. as soon as the army heard the news, the cry was universal "discharge, discharge" they had not been paid and they won't be paid for quite a while, but they want to go home. the army peacefully and carefully dismantled and returned to their homes. washington had one more mission, one more errand to do. december the 23rd, 1783, he journeyed to annapolis, maryland, continental congress was meeting at the state house in annapolis. he entered the chamber to return to the congress what they had given him in june of 1775. june of 1775, they literally had given him his commission as commander in chief of the army. on december the 2

weekly levies which were modeled on those held by george iii. the english monarchs. of course in some sense we have an elected monarch as president, which is what many -- that's what jefferson thought we had. like the polish king. he's elected for a few years. they thought washington would serve for life. when he died the vice president would take over, he'd serve for life, so on. that's how people thought the office would proceed. now it turned out differently because washington was desperate to get back to mount vernon. that was wonderful for our system that he could surrender power. >> he was the first president to hate his second term. followed by all the others. >> right. >> the only one to have a son -- one of his sons became the sixth president. >> that's right. they had all daughters or no children as madison and yet, the one who did have the son was john adams. that son became president. i think lots of people thought that we could go in that direction. and of course many people accused andrew jackson of being a king. king andrew. that's why the wigs took th

but sitting at a table decorated with george iii silver gilt candles i could ensconced with royal livery while the queen entertained heads of state but my favorite moments was at windsor which the queen considers her real home. i spent time with two of the queen's elderly first cousins who have known her longer than anybody else. both live near the castle in modest homes that the queen gave to them. and every sunday after church, the queen drives her jaguar to visit one of the cousins, barbara rhodes who greets her with a courtesy and hands her a begin and dubanier and they sit down and they chat about friends and family. as i sat on margaret's sagging sofa in her alarm where her dogs toys were scattered all around the floor, i could imagine the queen sitting in the very same spot with her hat on her head but completely relaxed. at public events, i watch the queen at a distance. always a smiling icon in the crowd, careful not to engage the crowd too much. so it was especially helpful to have three social encounters at private gatherings and each time i caught the animated gestures, the s

sitting at a table decorated with george iii silver gilt candelabra and sculpted centerpieces, could immerse myself in the experience of being served by footman in royal livery where the queen entertains heads of state that my favorite moments were at windsor which the queen considers our real home. i spent time with two of the queen's elderly first cousins who have known our longer than anybody else. both lived near the castle in modest homes that the queen gave to them and every sunday after church the queen drives our jaguar to visit one of the cousins, margaret rose, who greets our with a curtsy and hands our a gin jan anja binet and they sit down and they chat about friends and family. as i sat on margaret sagging sofa in our living room where our dog toys were scattered all around on the floor, i could imagine the queen sitting in the very same spot with our hat on our head, but completely relaxed. at public events i watch the queen at a distance, always the smiling icon moving to the crowd, careful not to engage too much. so it was especially helpful to have three social encou

you remember george iii, i hope. generally, i am willing to give the president's nominees the benefit of the doubt when the nominee on the surface meets the requirements i previously outlined. but as i have indicated over the past few weeks, we're not operating under normal circumstances. the atmosphere the president has created with his disregard for constitutional principles has made it difficult to give his nominees any benefit of the doubt. despite the conditions the president has created, the committee is moving forward with hearings and with markups, and as we see, we continue to have floor votes and confirmations. we're making progress. this will be president obama's 26th circuit nominee that we've confirmed. that means over 62% of the president's circuit judge nominees have been confirmed. this is the same pace of confirmation for president bush's circuit nominees at a comparable point in his first term. furthermore, president obama's nominees are moving through the process at a quicker pace. the average time

president, i rise today to urge the senate to confirm judge george levi russell iii of maryland to be a united states district judge for the district of maryland. judge russell was reported by a voice vote of the judiciary committee on february 16, as the presiding officer, the president of the senate, knows. judge russell currently sits as a trial judge in the baltimore city circuit court. i take the obligation very seriously in terms of the advice and consent role played by the senate. i am concerned, mr. president, that our judicial confirmation process here in the senate has broken down due to partisanship, particularly for noncontroversial judges. judge russell's nomination now joins a long list of backlogged, noncontroversial judicial nominations that are stuck on the senate floor. as of yesterday, the senate calendar contained 20 judicial nominations approved by the senate judiciary committee still awaiting final vote. 15 of these nominees have been pending since last year, and 18 of them have received strong bipartisan support from the senate judiciary committee. these are non